Note To My Younger Self

A note to my younger self, in two words:

Don't Worry

What good did all the worry do me?  Not one thing.  I borrowed troubles, I sweated the small stuff, I worried things down to the bone.....  If I could go back in time and give myself a note, not only give myself a note, but make it a note that I would believe with my whole heart and start practicing right away, it would be those simple words.

Don't Worry

Followed quickly by:

Be Happy

Finger snapping optional.

Inspired by prompt #4 at Mama's Losin' It!

And 10 Months Later.....

Ten months after I was frantically trying to finish my nieces stocking for Christmas 2012, and sadly, had to admit defeat to time, as blogged about in this post, I have finished it.

In plenty of time for Christmas 2013.  Whew!!

And in plenty of time for me to start procrastinating the sewing project of 2013!

Rays Of Sunshine

The way to start a morning off on the wrong foot is to start it by pulling a disgusting clog out of the drain so you can shower without standing in water past your ankles.  Add to that, spilling an entire warehouse store size dog food bag right after opening it.

Those two things started to push my before 7:00 AM morning into bad day territory.....

But for my daughter who told me the dog food spilling wasn't bad, dogs will eat anything, even dusty food, and did I need any help, and would I like some toast?

I laughed because she is right: our dogs will eat anything, all I needed was the dust pan, and yes, please, toast, with so much butter, more butter than she would think a piece of toast could hold.

And suddenly, my day had rays of sunshine, and the day was back on the right foot.

The Way I Like Them

If my Grandma's cookie jar isn't full when we come to visit, she pulls out her frozen cookie stash and serves us ice cold cookies.  I've never really understood the concept of having extra cookies to freeze until now.  I'm still learning how to shop for a party of teenage girls vs the way I shopped for a party of teenage boys!

Weeks ago, I had a plethora of  extra cookies.  I filled the cookie jar and still had so many cookies.  I decided to freeze them, an experiment, to see if they were still okay after a freeze.  My other option was to let them sit on the counter and get old and stale and finally go to the great garbage can in the sky.

Throwing out perfectly good cookies seems like a sin.

I froze 2 gallon bags filled with chocolate chip cookies and discovered something about myself.  I like frozen cookies.  I like to have a frozen cookie after dinner.  I like to have a frozen cookie with my coffee.  I like to have a frozen cookie pretty much any time of the day.

So when I had an abundance of cookies again, I put 8 in the cookie jar and froze the rest.  Both of my kids responded with, "What's with the frozen cookies?" and I smiled as I replied, "I like them that way."

In most things, I am ruled by my mother heart and set aside my own wants in order for my children to have theirs, which is how I've eaten too much tofu and watched too many scary videos, but in this one thing, I'm not budging!

I like my frozen cookies too much.

Fall's Cereal

The best part of our walk
Is the half block under the tall oak trees
The heaps of golden red orange leaves
Our feet kick up a delicious
Snap Crack Pop
The girls put their noses down
Plowing leaves over their heads
Leaves swish up my ankles
Tails wag
Smiles abound.

The Bear Facts Of Life

Bears are scary.  Those claws and teeth, their territorial possession of any land they are on which you might accidentally walk into, their desire to eat the same berries that you wish to pick....Yep.  Scary beyond all reason.

As a kid, I had some defining moments with bears, but all without actually seeing a bear.  Once, when berry picking with my Mom and siblings, she thought she heard a bear and hustled us back to the car, except for myself, who did not want to be hustled until she said the dreaded words, "I thought I heard a bear," and then I hustled myself right into a sticker patch and got all the scratches one might expect from that.  Another time, my Mom and sisters saw a bear in a neighbor's field, going after their pig, and the lady of the house came out and shot it with her shotgun.  Said bear was hanging in the barn for any who wanted to see.  I did not.  Next, a bear got drunk in an apple orchard, and the call went around the community for all to come see it's funny antics, and I did not go.  I refused to go.  A drunk bear?  Are you insane?

Those three brushes with bears gave me a life-long fear.

As a grown up, I have camped all over bear infested country, and I have seen black bears and baby grizzly bears and survived.

But every night when camping, I know a bear is sitting in our campsite, waiting for me to move, so it can come over and ask me how I'm doing.

I might have also read too  many "drama-in-real-life" articles where bears tore open campers to drag people off into the night.

All of these memories were brought to the forefront of my mind, when my Mom casually mentioned that my aunt saw a bear when she was out walking her dogs.  12 miles from my house.  Sure, she was out in country section of our hometown, but all I could think was BEAR!!!  Too close!

This post inspired by prompt #3 at Mama's Losin' It!

A Perfect Storm Of Reasons

The problem with buying luxurious bedding is that it has created the most wonderful, cozy nest imaginable and when the alarm clock blasts its rude tones, all I can manage is to extend one arm to slap it quiet.  When it sounds again, I know it's time to get up, but the sheets and comforter become a perfect storm of reasons why I should hit snooze one more time.

And maybe just once again.

The only thing that made me get up this morning, sort of on time, is knowing I had to wake up my daughter and take a shower before anyone else beat me to the bathroom.

So I got up, and carefully smoothed the covers back to rights and promised myself that I would be back tonight closer to 10 than 11!